A wireless communication device transmits and receives information wirelessly via a wireless access node to communicate over a communication network. Typically, the wireless access node is part of a radio access network (RAN) which provides the wireless communication device with access to further communication networks, systems, and devices. In fourth generation (4G) long term evolution (LTE) communication systems, a wireless communication device is referred to as user equipment (UE), while a wireless access node is called an enhanced node B (eNodeB).
In LTE systems, when the UE is first powered on, the initial connectivity for the UE requires it to synchronize with the network as a first step in gaining access to network resources. Typically, the UE attempts to achieve uplink timing synchronization with the eNodeB by carrying out a random access procedure (RAP) using a random access channel (RACH) process. The UE may indicate its resource requirement along with transmitting a random access preamble sequence and wait for a random access response (RAR) from the eNodeB. If a positive acknowledgement is not received during a predetermined time period that the UE is configured to wait, the UE may reattempt to achieve uplink timing synchronization with the eNodeB by transmitting another preamble sequence. However, a collision may occur during the RACH process if another UE initiates RAP using the same preamble sequence and receives a resource allocation for the same resource block as the other UE.